Research Intern Jobs at ByteDance with Visa Sponsorship
Research Intern jobs at ByteDance sit at the intersection of applied machine learning, systems research, and large-scale product development. ByteDance actively sponsors work visas for research talent, making it a realistic target for international candidates pursuing hands-on research experience in the U.S.
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Get Access To All JobsLOCATION
Location:
Seattle
TEAM
Team:
Infrastructure
EMPLOYMENT TYPE
Employment Type:
Intern
JOB CODE
Job Code:
A76146
ABOUT THE TEAM
Join ByteDance’s database R&D team, where you’ll build and own cutting-edge database products supporting ByteDance’s global infrastructure. Our diverse portfolio includes relational databases, distributed caches, key-value stores, document databases, graph databases, wide-column stores, search engines, and multi-model databases.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are building the next-generation AI-native database systems—intelligent, multimodal, and designed for the era of large models. Our systems are not just data stores; they’re reasoning engines, retrieval platforms, and real-time memory for AI agents. As a Software Engineer or Researcher, you will be at the forefront of rethinking how databases work when built from the ground up for AI workloads. You’ll help create infrastructure that powers intelligent systems across TikTok, CapCut, and future applications that haven’t been imagined yet.
We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship. PhD internships at Our Company provide students with the opportunity to actively contribute to our products and research, as well as to the organization's future plans and emerging technologies.
Our dynamic internship experience blends hands-on learning, enriching community-building and professional development events, and collaboration with industry experts.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. Please clearly state your availability in your resume (Start date, End date).
Responsibilities
- Develop kernel modules or features for AI-native database systems.
- Solve unique, large-scale, highly complex cloud infrastructure problems.
- Partner with PMs and engineers from different teams on building backend support for AI-native database service products.
- Participate in technical discussions related to team's product and engineering work.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other related discipline.
- Knowledge of database kernel, distributed system, query processing and optimization, multi-threaded programming.
- Experience coding in C/C++, Golang, Java, Python.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Demonstrated software engineering experience from previous internship, work experience, coding competitions, or publications.
- Curiosity towards new technologies and entrepreneurship.
- High levels of creativity and quick problem-solving capabilities.
- Experience with open-source systems such as Faiss, Milvus, DuckDB, ClickHouse, TiKV, RocksDB.
- Publications at conferences (e.g., SIGMOD, VLDB, NeurIPS, MLSys, ICDE).
- Familiarity with GCP, AWS, or Azure’s database and AI integration strategies.
- Prior contributions to RAG, memory-augmented models, or self-tuning database components.
COMPENSATION
- Compensation Description (Hourly) - Campus Intern:
The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $57 - $57.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Interns have day one access to health insurance, life insurance, wellbeing benefits and more. Interns also receive 10 paid holidays per year and paid sick time (56 hours if hired in first half of year, 40 if hired in second half of year). Interns who are not working 100% remote may also be eligible for housing allowance.
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
FOR LOS ANGELES COUNTY (UNINCORPORATED) CANDIDATES:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
-
Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
-
Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
-
Exercising sound judgment.
About us
Founded in 2012, ByteDance's mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. With a suite of more than a dozen products, including TikTok, Lemon8, CapCut and Pico as well as platforms specific to the China market, including Toutiao, Douyin, and Xigua, ByteDance has made it easier and more fun for people to connect with, consume, and create content.
WHY JOIN BYTEDANCE
Inspiring creativity is at the core of ByteDance's mission. Our innovative products are built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and enrich life - a mission we work towards every day.
As ByteDancers, we strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our Company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
ByteDance is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At ByteDance, our mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION
ByteDance is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at
https://tinyurl.com/RA-request
LOCATION
Location:
Seattle
TEAM
Team:
Infrastructure
EMPLOYMENT TYPE
Employment Type:
Intern
JOB CODE
Job Code:
A76146
ABOUT THE TEAM
Join ByteDance’s database R&D team, where you’ll build and own cutting-edge database products supporting ByteDance’s global infrastructure. Our diverse portfolio includes relational databases, distributed caches, key-value stores, document databases, graph databases, wide-column stores, search engines, and multi-model databases.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are building the next-generation AI-native database systems—intelligent, multimodal, and designed for the era of large models. Our systems are not just data stores; they’re reasoning engines, retrieval platforms, and real-time memory for AI agents. As a Software Engineer or Researcher, you will be at the forefront of rethinking how databases work when built from the ground up for AI workloads. You’ll help create infrastructure that powers intelligent systems across TikTok, CapCut, and future applications that haven’t been imagined yet.
We are looking for talented individuals to join us for an internship. PhD internships at Our Company provide students with the opportunity to actively contribute to our products and research, as well as to the organization's future plans and emerging technologies.
Our dynamic internship experience blends hands-on learning, enriching community-building and professional development events, and collaboration with industry experts.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply early. Please clearly state your availability in your resume (Start date, End date).
Responsibilities
- Develop kernel modules or features for AI-native database systems.
- Solve unique, large-scale, highly complex cloud infrastructure problems.
- Partner with PMs and engineers from different teams on building backend support for AI-native database service products.
- Participate in technical discussions related to team's product and engineering work.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other related discipline.
- Knowledge of database kernel, distributed system, query processing and optimization, multi-threaded programming.
- Experience coding in C/C++, Golang, Java, Python.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Demonstrated software engineering experience from previous internship, work experience, coding competitions, or publications.
- Curiosity towards new technologies and entrepreneurship.
- High levels of creativity and quick problem-solving capabilities.
- Experience with open-source systems such as Faiss, Milvus, DuckDB, ClickHouse, TiKV, RocksDB.
- Publications at conferences (e.g., SIGMOD, VLDB, NeurIPS, MLSys, ICDE).
- Familiarity with GCP, AWS, or Azure’s database and AI integration strategies.
- Prior contributions to RAG, memory-augmented models, or self-tuning database components.
COMPENSATION
- Compensation Description (Hourly) - Campus Intern:
The hourly rate range for this position in the selected city is $57 - $57.
Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Interns have day one access to health insurance, life insurance, wellbeing benefits and more. Interns also receive 10 paid holidays per year and paid sick time (56 hours if hired in first half of year, 40 if hired in second half of year). Interns who are not working 100% remote may also be eligible for housing allowance.
The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.
FOR LOS ANGELES COUNTY (UNINCORPORATED) CANDIDATES:
Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:
-
Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
-
Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and
-
Exercising sound judgment.
About us
Founded in 2012, ByteDance's mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. With a suite of more than a dozen products, including TikTok, Lemon8, CapCut and Pico as well as platforms specific to the China market, including Toutiao, Douyin, and Xigua, ByteDance has made it easier and more fun for people to connect with, consume, and create content.
WHY JOIN BYTEDANCE
Inspiring creativity is at the core of ByteDance's mission. Our innovative products are built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and enrich life - a mission we work towards every day.
As ByteDancers, we strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our Company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
ByteDance is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At ByteDance, our mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION
ByteDance is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at
https://tinyurl.com/RA-request
See all Research Intern Jobs at ByteDance
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Research Intern Jobs at ByteDance.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Research Intern Jobs at ByteDance
Align your research area to ByteDance teams
ByteDance Research Intern roles cluster around recommendation systems, computer vision, NLP, and distributed systems. Tailor your resume and cover letter to the specific lab or product team, not just the company, so recruiters can match you to a sponsorable headcount.
Confirm your visa type before applying
ByteDance sponsors H-1B, H-1B1 visa, E-3, and EB-2/EB-3 pathways. Knowing which category fits your nationality and status before you apply lets you answer recruiter eligibility questions confidently and avoid delays at the offer stage.
Time your application around academic calendar windows
ByteDance Research Intern cohorts typically align with summer and fall university terms. Applying three to four months ahead gives HR enough runway to process LCA filings with DOL and complete I-129 paperwork before your intended start date.
Prepare a publication or project portfolio early
ByteDance research teams weigh published papers, arXiv preprints, and open-source contributions heavily for intern candidates. Having these documents ready before your first interview round prevents bottlenecks when the team escalates your file for sponsorship approval.
Use Migrate Mate to filter verified ByteDance openings
Research Intern postings at ByteDance appear and close quickly. Use Migrate Mate to browse current openings filtered by visa sponsorship type so you're applying to roles where sponsorship is already confirmed, not assumed.
Clarify OPT and CPT eligibility with your DSO
If you're on F-1 status, ByteDance internships can run on CPT or OPT before any H-1B filing is needed. Confirm your remaining OPT days with your Designated School Official before accepting an offer, since USCIS cap-gap rules only apply after an H-1B petition is filed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does ByteDance sponsor H-1B visas for Research Interns?
Yes, ByteDance sponsors H-1B visas for Research Intern roles. The company files Labor Condition Applications with DOL and submits I-129 petitions through USCIS for qualifying candidates. Because H-1B cap-subject petitions are subject to an annual lottery, timing your offer and start date around the April filing window is important if you need cap-subject sponsorship.
How do I apply for Research Intern jobs at ByteDance?
Applications go through ByteDance's careers portal, where Research Intern roles are listed by team and location. Most positions require a resume, a brief research statement, and links to publications or project work. Shortlisted candidates typically go through two to three technical rounds covering domain knowledge and research depth before receiving an offer with sponsorship details.
Which visa types does ByteDance commonly use for Research Intern roles?
ByteDance sponsors H-1B, H-1B1 visa, and E-3 visas for Research Intern positions, along with immigrant pathways including EB-2 and EB-3 for longer-term transitions. Australian citizens can pursue the E-3 visa, which has no lottery and a faster consular process. H-1B1 is available for Chilean and Singaporean nationals. F-1 students often start on CPT or OPT before transitioning to a cap-subject or cap-exempt H-1B.
What qualifications does ByteDance expect for Research Intern candidates?
ByteDance Research Intern roles typically expect candidates who are enrolled in or have completed a graduate program in computer science, machine learning, statistics, or a related field. Strong candidates have at least one published or submitted paper, hands-on experience with PyTorch or JAX, and familiarity with large-scale data pipelines. Roles in NLP often require transformer architecture experience specifically.
How do I find Research Intern roles at ByteDance that confirm visa sponsorship?
Not every Research Intern posting explicitly states which visa types are supported, which creates uncertainty for international candidates. Migrate Mate surfaces ByteDance Research Intern openings filtered by confirmed sponsorship categories, so you can target roles where H-1B, E-3, or other pathways are already verified before you invest time in the application process.